About OUR TURN:
OUR TURN is a new visual arts festival taking place between 26 September 2025 – 28 January 2026, in venues and unusual spaces across the city of Bradford. The aim of the festival is to celebrate Bradford’s rich creative scene, bringing together new and established artforms, and supporting artists and audiences at all stages of their creative journeys. Learn more about the festival here.
OUR TURN is supported by Arts Council England and Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
The opportunity:
Corridor8 is partnering with OUR TURN to offer a paid writing bursary for an emerging or early-career writer based in the Bradford region.
This is an opportunity to spend time with OUR TURN, attend exhibitions and events (including the festival launch on September 18th), meet artists and audiences and respond creatively and critically through an extended piece of writing. The resulting text (1,500–2,500 words) might take the form of a review, a personal essay, a reflection on place and practice. We are open to your unique voice and any format.
We are especially keen to hear from writers from backgrounds underrepresented in art criticism, or who bring lived experience and insight from outside traditional art writing routes.
What the selected writer will receive:
- A £350 commission to write a 1,500-2,500 word text on an aspect of OUR TURN.
- Editorial support and mentorship from the Corridor8 editorial team.
- Travel costs to attend selected events and exhibitions across the festival, including the festival launch on Thursday 18 September.
- Publication on Corridor8’s website.
- Opportunities to connect with artists and curators involved in the festival.
Timeline:
- Call opens: Tuesday 5 August
- Deadline to apply: Tuesday 2 September
- Writer announced: Monday 15 September
- Festival Launch Event: Thursday 18 September
- Festival period: September 2025 – January 2026
How to apply:
To apply, please send:
- A short statement (max 300 words) introducing yourself and why you’re interested in this opportunity
- One example of your writing (can be published or unpublished, any format)
- A short note on your location and relationship to Bradford.
Send to: ourturn@southsquarecentre.co.uk with the subject line “Writer Bursary Application – YOUR NAME”.
Applications close on Tuesday 2nd September at 12 noon.
Support: If you would like support in completing your submission, please email ourturn@southsquarecentre.co.uk. There is no such thing as a silly question – if you don’t know the answer, we can guarantee someone else doesn’t know it either!